The Role of the General Will in Social Contract Theory

The Role of the General Will in Social Contract Theory

In the beginning, all men were in the state of nature. All men were allowed to do as they please and follow whatever instincts they had influencing them. The problem with their existence in the state of nature is that some of men's strongest instincts are safety and survival, something that is not really guaranteed in the state of nature. What is to be done then? They bind together and create a community under a sovereign in order to protect themselves. In creating this sovereign state Rousseau argues that in order to work efficiently the people need to align themselves with the general will.

It seems almost as if the general will has been active from the beginning of the creation of the sovereign. In creating the sovereign several factors are taken into account that brings the people together in agreement for this improved state of existence. I chapter 5 Rousseau states that their needed to have been a community or a group prior the creation of the sovereign state, a community that could have come to the decision to give themselves to the sovereign as a gift. If there was no such community then the sovereign would not have legitimate power over those who did not see eye to eye with the